These Members Started Their Own Wine Business

David and Stephanie Baird

Former Employees of Exxon Mobil; Co-Founders of Bevco International; Wine Aficionados; Co-Founders of Baird LWT Consulting/Journey Into Wine

Members Since 2014

Lorena Cernadas: Can you tell us a little bit about your professional background?

David Baird: Out of law school, I joined Exxon in 1971 and went through a series of law and managerial assignments over the years. I retired in 2002. At that point, Stephanie and I decided to set up a company from scratch and did so in May 2002. It was named Bevco International.

It took us a couple years to really get traction with Bevco. You learn that even though you did well in the big corporate world, a lot of things don’t readily translate into running a smaller business.

But we grew and ran Bevco successfully for about a dozen years before selling the company in October 2014.

Now we’ve set up a new company (Baird LWT Consulting/A Journey Into Wine), which primarily builds on Stephanie’s wine expertise and education and pulls in some of my law practice work.

Stephanie Baird: Yeah, I too went to work for what was then Exxon in 1986 straight out of college. I traveled all over the world and mostly lived out of a hotel for Exxon. And when one is living out of a hotel room, one must go out for dinner. On this one particular project I worked, we sort of had our own personal sommelier on the team, and that’s really where my interest in wine got started.

Shortly after David retired, I decided that I didn’t want to be living in a hotel. Around 2008, I was invited to take a test to be a certified specialist of wine, and I thought, “Oh, that’ll be kind of fun. Just see if I’ve learned anything over these past six years.”

And then one test and certification led to another, which led to another, which led to another. It’s amounted to more than 20 exams that have culminated in nine certifications.

Lorena Cernadas: So, Stephanie, are you doing this full time now?

Stephanie Baird: Yes. My journey into wine continues in many freelance aspects. I write for a wine business-to-business magazine, organize domestic and international tours, and teach privately, as well as with a couple of institutions. So I do a lot of wine education.

And occasionally I’m hired to evaluate somebody’s cellar, to organize their cellar or to figure out a dinner party from their wine cellar.

Lorena Cernadas: So what is your favorite wine?

Stephanie Baird: I would have to tag pinot noir as my favorite. When it comes to a style of wine, I am more into the Old World European wines than I am into the New World wines: Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina, United States, South Africa…

David Baird: Usually our starting point is that whatever you like is a good wine, but what we encourage people to do is experiment with some other things and grow their horizons with wines.

Lorena Cernadas: What are your future plans and dreams for this business?

Stephanie Baird: I think growth and the ability to continue interacting with a lot of the public. We meet a lot of different people because of wine and because of what I do.

We’re always meeting new people, which is a lot of fun, but at the same time we now have flexibility.

Lorena Cernadas: What would you say is your greatest professional accomplishment?

David Baird: I kind of divided my career accomplishments into three parts.

Early in the career was when I was a lobbyist in the House of Representatives for Exxon, and I felt I did a great job of protecting and furthering Exxon’s interests at the time.

I moved into the middle career when I was corporate secretary for Exxon. It was a very diverse and talented board of directors, and we encountered a lot of difficult issues at the time.

And then later in the career, thankfully it’s starting up a business from scratch and having that become very successful and working with Stephanie over about a dozen years.

Stephanie Baird: Just being proud of the transition from the corporate world to the entrepreneurial world. It was incredibly eye-opening and a culture shock in the very beginning.

It took a while to relax and get into this groove and to make that transition. Then we did it, and now here we are having fun.

Lorena Cernadas: What drives you to be successful?

David Baird: I have to harken back to Mom and Dad. They just said, “Whatever you do, give it your best shot.” And I guess another way of phrasing that is to make sure you show up every day. And then they always emphasized that if you ever reach the point where you can give something back, then do so – in terms of finances, time, etc.

And both Stephanie and I do that a lot in Texas in the Houston area with some of our nonprofit work and with several organizations that focus on helping children and young people in various ways.

Stephanie Baird: And for me, I grew up in a family that was less fortunate than many others; much of the food we ate had to come from our backyard. Having watched my mom’s family back in Mississippi, I saw how hard everything was for them. They had food on the table, but they were self-sufficient and self-providing. I quite honestly wanted something that was maybe a little bit easier than that.

So I studied extremely hard all the way through high school so that I could get into a good university and try to launch the best career possible.

Lorena Cernadas: What do you consider to be the greatest benefit of your Oxford Club Membership, David?

David Baird: As I neared retirement, I started getting more and more involved with the stock market and was using a couple of brokerage firms. But I was seeking independent research, insights and timely recommendations. I gravitated toward The Oxford Club for that reason. And that’s still to me the greatest value.

Lorena Cernadas: Great, and your favorite investment?

David Baird: I would say Exxon Mobil stock is my favorite investment just because of the way it’s worked out in my history with the company.

Lorena Cernadas: Your inspiration today… is it the same inspiration that you felt 25 years ago, or is it completely different?

David Baird: Yes, it’s probably a different perspective for both of us. I think it just seems like one value of staying motivated and inspired is change – and taking on new challenges.

When we retired and started the new business, inspiration kind of tied into our motivation. It’s just that when you’re taking on a new challenge, you’ve got a fresh mindset, and you’re mentally reinvigorated to take on another challenge.

Lorena Cernadas: Switching gears, can you tell us your opinion on the American Dream, and do you think that it’s still alive?

David Baird: Yeah, I do think the American Dream is still alive, but I think it’s more of a challenge the further we move away from the founding principles of the country. I think it takes a lot of work to get people to know what the value of the American Dream is these days.

I really worry a lot that some of the motivation for achieving the American Dream is eroding just because we have a lot of programs in place that do not motivate people to take self-responsibility and do things on their own.

Stephanie Baird: I believe in personal responsibility. I think of all the opportunities I had available to me, and yet I went to a public school and I paid my way through college. People can still go to public school. People can still work their way through college.

The American Dream still exists, but I think that people have been discouraged by things they see in the media and don’t believe that those opportunities still exist. And therefore they don’t act on them.

Lorena Cernadas: The Oxford Club agrees with you. That’s why the theme of our Investment U Conference next year is “The Rebirth of the American Dream: Boom, Bust and Beyond.” We hope to see you both there.

Thanks so much for your time.